Population Density

Population density

The image shows population density per square mile according to the Poll-tax of 1377. Since Lords love their taxes we can assume it's pretty accurate.
Dark = 60
Grey = 40-60
White = below 40

Few villages are more than about a mile or two from their nearest neighbour. In regions of better farmland, the villages are closer (similar sized fields but less heath and waste filling out the manor).

A market village is a large village with a market (possibly illegal). A market village will be roughly 4 miles or less (1 hour walk) from any other market village and 12 miles (4 hour walk) or less from a proper market town. Larger towns might be a 3 day walk away. You don't go to the larger town very often.

Markets typically happen once a week, with different villages having markets on different days to avoid conflicts. Typically a shepard or farmer living in a village or thorpe would sell their excess goods (wool, eggs, etc) to a merchant who would take them to market at the market village or market town for re-sell. This way the peasants earn a little money and don't have to sit all day selling stuff. Also this way the town has food.

I imagine they probably had folks (I call them peddlers on the rural encounters charts) who would buy up goods in the nearest market town, pile them into the wagon, and hit up a village market each day making a marginal living in this way. They might also buy up produce for sale in the town markets since few villagers have the time or money to haul their goods to market and sit in a stall all day trying to sell it.

I figure a ratio of 9 villages for each town and 9 towns for each city.

Culture level can be used to help determine how many inhabitants are in a settled region. The GM can determine how many villages are in each 'settled' 6-mile hex using table 1.

Table 1: Population Density

1d100	Culture	Families in 6-mile hex	People sqr mile
01-05	Primitive	62-300	10-50
06-10	Desert (Nomad)	--	--
11-15	Oriental Horse (Nomad)	--	--
16-30	Classical (Civilized)	300-500	50-80
31-40	Dark Ages (Barbarian)	62-370	10-40
41-50	Medieval (Civilized)	370-550	40-90
51-80	Late Medieval (Civilized)	550-744	90-120
81-00	Oriental or Renaissance (Civilized)	745-1426	120-230

So for example the settled areas in England of 1377 above would be Medieval (Civilized) and have roughly 370-550 families in a 6-mile Hex. Since villages range in size from 20-1,000 families that means the hex might contain 1 village of 550 families or two of 250 each, etc. The closer to a Town or City the larger the individual villages are likely to be.

The lightly populated areas might be considered Dark Ages (Barbarian) which primarily indicates the size of the settlements and the availability of craftsmen and such there more than anything else.

Saxon Farming

From A Handbook of Pictorial History by Henry W. Donald, available through Project Gutenberg. These two figures show Saxon farming but they may as well show any medieval farming as I don't think major gains were made during the period.


(Fig. 1): January. This month was called by the English, when heathen, “Wolf-monath,” because the wolves were most troublesome at this period of the year. When the English became Christians it was called “Aefter-Yule,” i.e., After-Christmas. Here there is a ploughing scene. Four oxen yoked together in couples are drawing a plough of a very solid-looking type. (In those days horses were not employed in farm work.) A farm-hand, bare-headed, bare-footed, and wearing only a single garment, is goading the oxen with a sharp-pointed ox-goad, similar to a long spear in appearance. A man in superior attire is guiding the plough, while another is scattering seed as the plough passes. A good representation of the plough of that period is shown here. 



(Fig. 2): August. This month was called by the English “Arn-moneth” or “Barn-moneth,” i.e., “harvest-month.” This drawing gives a representation of a farm wagon of good construction, and of the costumes of the workers, who appear to be of at least two grades—some bare-footed, wearing a single garment, while others have better-cut garments, and wear shoes and stockings in addition. At the head of a party is a man with a spear in his right hand, blowing a horn, who may be either superintending the work or may be the “advance guard” of a hunting party entering the field. The implements, sickles, and forks appear to be very similar to those in use at the present time.

Encounters: Rural Encounters (aka the Manor or settled areas)

Rural Encounters are the encounters on the roads and trails throughout the manor but not in the actual settlements. These are relatively safe areas although bandits might be about hiding in the waste or in the hedgerows that outline most fields. If one has to trek an hour or two to the next field that stretch would not qualify as rural but would be wilderness.

Table 1: Rural Encounters

Day	Night	Encounter
01-05	01-02	Noble
06-49	02-09	Peasant/Townsman
50-59	10-11	Cleric/Priest
60-64	12	Wizard/Hermet
65-74	13	Merchant/Crafter
75-84	14-19	Soldiers/Forester
85-89	20-25	Special Encounter
90-00	26-00	Nothing Special

Table 2: Rural Noble

1d6	Noble
01	Noble with large entourage passing through
02	Noble with small entourage passing through
03	Noble alone, passing through
04	Noble on business in village (holding judicial court, collecting taxes, etc)
05	Nobles representative on business in village (discussing crop rotation with village head, etc)
06	Nobles small entourage, Noble not present

Table 3: Rural Peasants/Townsmens

1d6	Peasant/Townsman
01-04	Working hard (working in fields, watching sheep or cattle)
05	Celebrating (birth, marriage, harvest)
06	Trying to sell produce or fish

Table 4: Rural Cleric/Priest

1d6	Cleric/Priest
01	High ranking Holy Person traveling with entourage of 2d6
02-03	Cleric/Priests doing priestly things (wedding, baptism, blessing crops, etc)
04	Cleric/Priests Helping peasants (working in field, teaching literacy)
05	Church is landholder and 1d6 Cleric/Priests are collecting taxes
06	2d6 Cleric/Priests arresting someone for Witchcraft

Table 5: Rural Wizard

1d6	Wizard
01	Wizard traveling with Entourage of 1d6 (bodyguards, apprentices)
02-04	Wizard traveling alone
05	Two Wizards engaged in a rising conflict
06	In disguise (roll on Rural Encounter table again for disguise)

Table 6: Rural Merchant/Crafter

1d6	Merchant/Crafter
01	Merchant caravan of 1d6 wagons (with guards)
02	Merchant caravan of 1d4 wagons (no guards)
03-04	Single Merchant Wagon
05	Crafter buying raw goods (charcoal, wood, wool, etc)
06	Peddler selling crafts to villagers

Table 7: Rural Soldier/Forester

1d6	Soldier/Forester
01-03	2d6 Soldiers/Foresters traveling from here to there
04	1d6 Soldiers/Foresters hunting
05	1d6 Soldiers/Foresters Searching for bandits/monsters
06	1d6 Soldiers/Foresters Engaged in military action, will likely harass anyone they come across

Table 8: Rural Bandits

1d6	Bandits
01-04	1d8 Bandits waiting in ambush to demand a toll
05	1d8 Bandits waiting in ambush to demand a toll
06	1d8 Caught unaware, counting their ill gotten booty